Wednesday, February 24, 2010

I’m roasting chiles and frying up bacon. What am I making, you might ask? What everybody wants to eat after being ill for a few days: chipotle macaroni and cheese. With bacon, of course.

OK, so this might seem a bit heavy for a re-entry into the land of the normal eating, but let me tell you—I’m hungry! And while the best thing I can say about not feeling well is that your skinny jeans are suddenly a viable option in your wardrobe, in the end I’d rather be well than ill. Though who wouldn’t? But let’s talk about chipotle macaroni and cheese, shall we?

My family, much like yours I reckon, has always made homemade macaroni and cheese. Sure, we’d have the box stuff on hand for after-school snacks or donations to the church food pantry, but in my house the real, homemade stuff was what was preferred.

Mom makes her macaroni and cheese in a variety of ways, but my favorite is a casserole of pasta suspended in a luscious sauce comprised of egg yolks, cheese and heavy cream. And just when you think it couldn’t be any more extravagant, she throws in diced, thick ham and tops it off with buttery breadcrumbs.
Yes, this is an excellent dish, but because of its richness I only advise serving it on special occasions. When it comes to a more everyday, simple macaroni and cheese, I turn to a method I learned in the New York Times.

This recipe requires little effort besides pouring cottage cheese blended with milk over dry pasta, tossing in some shredded cheese and baking it for an hour. No endless stirring a sauce or boiling a batch of pasta, which makes it a cinch to make. The Times version kept it plain, but I’ve made it my own by adding chipotle and garlic. And I top it with bacon and cotija, which adds contrast to the oozing cheese and soft pasta.

I realize that my macaroni and cheese may appear as decadent as my mom's, but feel free to convince yourself that it’s a touch more healthy due to the cottage cheese and all. I do. But you know what? We’re nearing the end of a long, cold winter and sometimes you just need to pamper yourself. And for me, comfort comes clothed in chipotle chiles, cheese and bacon.

Combine the shredded cheddar and Monterey Jack cheeses, then stir in two cups of the shredded cheese. Cover the pan with foil and bake for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, remove the foil and stir the macaroni and cheese a couple of times. Top with the remaining 1 cup of shredded cheese, chopped bacon, and butter, and cook for another 25 minutes uncovered or until brown and bubbling.

Remove from oven, sprinkle with cotija and serve.

Yield:4 to 8 servings

Notes:If you’re not familiar with cotija cheese, it’s a Mexican hard cheese that’s like a cross between feta and parmesan. It’s become increasingly more common, so you can find it at many regular grocery stores and Hispanic markets. And if you live in New York City, I found at Mexicana Bakery in Jackson Heights at 86-06 Roosevelt a wonderful cotija coated in dried chiles. Also, chipotle bacon jam might go dandy with this as well!

This looks like definite recovery food to me! I didn't have boxed mac n cheese until college and while I appreciate it for what it is, nothing is better than homemade. I love your use of cottage cheese. So good. And yes comfort is definitely cheese, bacon and chipotles. And of course pasta.

Oh wow.. this looks so tasty! I also always preferred my Mom's homemade mac'n cheese over the box stuff. Although she never added bacon and usually used whole wheat noodles (a bit of a health nut!)Amanda from: theFrickinChicken.blogspot.com

Man am I going to earn some points with this one. I have a friend who is nuts for chipotle, and she has got the grunge. She thinks she got it from me on a car trip, but it was allergies and I have not been sick!! I am going to make a batch of this and take it to her. Then she'll have to be my friend again.

After not making mac and cheese for years, this winter I've been making it every few weeks, even for dinner parties. I'm definitely going to toss some chipotle into my next batch; this just looks too good!

This looks wonderful. Flemings Steak House has a great Chipolte Mac and Cheese, I've made it and blogged about it. Your recipe is different and I think it sounds better than Flemings. I'll have to give it a try. Love the cottage cheese addition!

Looks like a good recipe! Another option for mac & cheese (or any cheese sauce) is to use evaporated milk, which makes it incredibly creamy without being super rich. If you get the low fat kind, it's still very creamy but without putting you into heart attack country.

I'm making this for dinner today--while we watch the USA-Canada gold medal game! going to sub 5 links of cooked chorizo sliced into coins for the bacon--thought it would go well with the chipotles, and make it more of a one dish meal.

I would suggest doing it at about 3/4 evaporated for what you'd normally put in of normal milk. That's a guess, really; I don't do recipes to the letter. Basically, whatever looks right. I know that isn't terribly helpful...

I MUST make this recipe this week! Even though I like chipotles (and I live in Dallas so I can find them everywhere!), I'm thinking of maybe subbing the chipotle for pepperjack cheese--have you ever tried this?? Now I just need another cast iron skillet so I can make the tex mex squash casserole at the same time (which I LOVE and have since shared the recipe with friends)!! Thanks for all the delicious food, as always!

I am literally drooling. Cheesy, spicy, AND bacony? What more could I ask for really. I know! Someone who also loves cheesy and spicy as much as me to share it with! The boyfriend doesn't do creamy textures, I'll have to eat the whole thing by myself - or wait until a good friend visits. She would enjoy this decadence as much as I would.

This looks FAB! I'm linking up to your site cuz I think we have the same taste in food.

Do you know about the site Texas Blogging Gals? You would fit right in. It's a site where you can link your blog with other bloggers who live, have lived, or just love Texas. Go here to see it: http://texas-blogginggals.blogspot.com/.

I love visiting NYC! When my hubs and I first married we thot we were going to live in NYC. It didn't work out but was exciting to dream about it for a while.

I saw this and it remindered me of this. It's the grilled cheese truck! Whenever it comes it has a HUGE line and so far I've only had their signature sammich... it's a grilled mac and cheese sammich with barbecued pork. I'd never had macaroni and cheese in sammich form before, but it was very tasty.

They have a brie and pear grilled cheese that must be very popular too cause of they were out of the brie by the time we got to the front of the line.

"I would like the brie sammich," I said. "We are out of brie," replied the very earnest-looking kind of heavyset guy what was taking the orders.

I'm a "chipotle virgin" so bear with me - I bought a can called "Chipotle in Adobo". Am I to use the ENTIRE can? Or just a bit? I'm confused and am making this for supper tonight. Don't know if you'll read this in time to help or not but in any case, I need clarification please.

Made this last night! It was SO easy and the Hubs went crazy for it. Do you think the addition of any herbs would compliment the dish? Our herb garden is teeming over and I've got to use some of it up. I'm thinking cilantro - any other ideas?

This is the second recipe I have made from your website and again very successful conclusion. I loved how the mac and cheese came out! I am used to the boxed versions and this recipe changed my perception on mac and cheese. Plus, anything made in cast iron is always better in my opinion.

Thanks for this awesome recipe! Beats the pants off any other macaroni I've had. So easy, too. Between this and your chipotle sweet potato soup, of which I've made two batches in the last couple weeks, I've gone through a lot of chipotles lately! YUM!

This recipe is incredible and much easier than most mac and cheese recipes I've made or seen. I made it this weekend and can't wait to make it again. http://foodiebia.blogspot.com/2011/01/chipotle-mac-cheese.html

what do you think about substituting yogurt for cottage cheese? My boyfriend is lactose intolerant and has a problem with cottage cheese but does okay with yogurt. I use yogurt in place of ricotta cheese in a lot of baked goods for this reason. I might just go for it, but I wanted to see what you thought?

We found your website when we were searching for a new Mac and cheese recipe. I stumbled on your site and loved the picture, thought it looked delish!!! I showed my partner and we made it tonight (sat jun 2nd) , it's sensational!! I have also omitted to mention that we are in Australia so we have some constraints in regards to ingredients. Lucky for us we have this great shop here called USA foods who import popular us foods so I was able too get the chipotle chillis. Jack cheese is another matter so we used Colby and low fat tasty and low fat cottage. My partner reckons its the best Mac and cheese he's ever eaten!!! Thanks so much and I can't wait to get a copy of your book, looks wonderful ! Cheers , Rachel Ratliff Melbourne Australia

since it's only the two of us and i wanted it as a side, i halved the recipe - though i the halves were somewhat heaping at times. i scooped a cup of macaroni, but added a little more so it covered the bottom of my mini casserole dish. so i splashed a little extra milk and heaped on a little more cottage cheese to compensate.

i wasn't trying to cut chipotles in half so i still added a whole one - i tasted the milk mixture and man alive, those things are SPICY right out of the can, lol! i always throw three or so into crock pots of stuff which i never think of as spicy, just flavorful.

anyway, after the first bake the macaroni was cooked but seemed pretty dry, so i drizzled over some more milk and stirred it in. i added the cheese and sprinkled some panko over the top for some extra crunch before adding the bacon and butter. when it was all baked the flavors were properly muddled and mellowed and it was really good.

in my mind i imagined it a bit gooier, like velveeta, the cottage cheese making a thick sauce...but really it just blends down into milk. i think maybe some day i'll try making it on the stove and doing the whole roux thing if i want a saucy version.

we had it with ranch chicken and a big green salad. boyperson who isn't really into carb sides and even less into pasta ate the whole giant square i gave him. we polished off about half the dish, but if we weren't starving that night i'd say the halved recipe would make six nice side sized portions.

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